Matilda, now Molly, had the great fortune of being adopted by local celebrity Tom Kane and his family. Tom is best known as the voice of Yoda on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and has also been the voice of The Oscars numerous times as well as countless cartoon characters. Tom has been a long-time pit bull advocate, having grown up with a pit bull, and has given his support to MABBR for every Charity Bingo even we’ve had at Hamburger Mary’s. Molly is living the high life with Tom, his wife Cindy, and their 9 kids! Talk about socialization, this kid is getting it! We look forward to watching Molly grow with her new family. She’s already begun obedience training at a young 9 weeks and is doing great! She’s acclimated to the noise of teenagers and toddlers and can sleep through just about anything!

Recently we’ve agreed to pull 4 puppies from a shelter in Kansas. We want to pull Momma as well, she deserves it! We haven’t been able to locate a foster for her at this time but we can board her if we can raise the money. PLEASE, if you can donate that’s great! If you can foster that’s even better! Please fill out an application if you are able to foster, or if you’d like to offer this beautiful girl a forever home!!

One of the people at Cavanaugh Pet Clinic contacted MABBR and after meeting him we stepped in to save him. Later x-rays show that his leg is broken in 3 places. We’re not sure at this time if there’s any break or damage to his pelvis. Monday he’ll get further x-rays to find out. At this point we know he’ll need surgery and it won’t be cheap. Through all of this, and his pain, he’s shown nothing but perfect manners toward his caregivers. We’re going to need a lot of help on this one! We’ll be updating this page as we find out more about his condition. Please check back! If you can help, and any help is greatly appreciated, please visit click the donate button below! THANK YOU!!

3/26/12 UPDATE —  We just got x-rays of Gunnar’s pelvis and the news is not good. He’s got 3 breaks in his pelvis as well as his leg. Right now we’re working on finding a specialized vet to tell us exactly what this means and if it is fixable. This kid is in a lot of pain and we have to work fast. PLEASE KEEP GOOD THOUGHTS!! We will update as soon as we hear more.

3/27/12 UPDATE —

More x-rays were taken and they showed that one side of his pelvis is crushed on top of his leg being broken in 3 places.  The pelvis is pushed in to a point where it’s causing him difficulty to eliminate so his colon is completely full of waste.  Luckily, his pelvis on the right side only has a slight fracture in it.  He was up and walking around yesterday because his right pelvis is in pretty good shape and it can bear the weight of his good leg.  So after consultation we felt like the best thing to do was to amputate the broken leg and move his pelvis on the left side back enough to open him up so he can go to the bathroom normally.   If we were to fix his broken leg, it would mean putting pins in and metal plates in his pelvis which would open him up to a good possibility of arthritis and joint problems on down the road.  Since we guess him to be around 4 years old, it would only be a matter of a few years before those problems would start to present themselves.  With doing the amputation, it eliminates that and he can live more comfortably for a longer period of time.

His bones are already starting to fuse together in a way they aren’t supposed to.  So we made the decision to go ahead with the surgery today.  His recovery time would be about a a week but we don’t know when they will release him.

We’re not sure what our total bill will be for everything but this dog is certainly worth it.

Gunnar will be in foster care while he recuperates.  As soon as that happens he will be available for adoption! If you can offer Gunnar a forever home please fill out an application on our site. From what we’ve seen he’s not reactive to other dogs or cats but he’s been so looped out on drugs it’s hard to know what he’s really like right now.  Nevertheless, he’s very sweet and tolerant of being manipulated in ways that are clearly painful for him.  In fact, he’s excellent in that regard.

3/28/12 UPDATE — Gunnar is out of surgery! His surgery lasted 6 hours. The leg was removed without complication and his pelvis was secured. He will be in the hospital until Monday, he’s already up and walking around, eating, drinking, and showing great attitude! Right now we’re concerned that he start showing normal bowel movements, until then he’s going to be observed. All looks great so far tho!!

3/30/12 UPDATE – The staff at Cedar Ridge say that he’s doing awesome and that his disposition is as stable and gentle as ever. We are anxious to see his real personality shine once he heals up and starts feeling more like himself.

We do have a foster home lined up and waiting, THANK YOU KENDALL!!! Anyone interested in showing this survivor how great life can be please fill out an application. We’d love to see him in a loving forever home!

A HUGE thank you to Helping Hands for Furry Friends, Megan Hill, Britton Hunter and Friends of Kansas City Animals, Tammy Saum, Rachael Wohletz Flener, Colleen Hill, Brenda Hager, April Thompson, Kristi Erickson, Fiona Theiss, Zach Hill, Kim Krohn and Carol Coe for their contributions. Also, thank you to Cavanaugh Pet Clinic in Blue Springs for contacting us about Gunnar and their love and care for him and to Dr. Cure and Cedar Ridge Animal Hospital where his surgery was performed.

4/3/12 UPDATE – It looks like Gunnar’s colon issue has finally resolved itself but Dr. Cure found that he was also infested with whip worms, round worms and hook worms so we can only wonder how long he’s had them and how much more miserable he had to be with all the other internal issues he had going on. But Dr. Cure has that under control and she reports that Gunnar has adjusted very quickly to his new situation and is walking on his own. There’s no shortage of wags and kisses now for everyone so we know he’s finally on his way to a full recovery. None of this would have been possible without Dr. Cure and the staff at Cedar Ridge. Their unwaivering confidence that he could be fixed and go on to live a normal life left us with no doubt that we made the right decision. Gunnar has been so amazing throughout all of this and we have to give him the thanks he deserves for turning all of our heartache to joy.

4/16/12 UPDATE – Gunnar is finally going to get to go to his foster home in two days!!! We’re pretty excited to see him come into himself and watch his progress. We tried to get a video of him walking but he’s moving around so fast now we couldn’t keep up with him

When I happened upon this lonely little four-leaf Clover,
She was wilted, trampled on, stomped over by life.
A life she didn’t deserve. A life that left scars.

But I picked her. I picked her because I knew she was special.
I planted her in my home and nourished her with plenty of love.

And then, an amazing thing happened: she began to blossom!

She grew into the most beautiful good luck charm.

At times a lovely, delicate flower …

… but will all the sass of a fiery Irish redhead!

If you don’t know Clover’s story, ask me sometime …

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Clover … and Snuggles, too! 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County prosecutors have filed 19 charges against a Blue Summit woman whose home was found filthy and full of animals.

Deputies searched Shirley Lafferty’s home in the area of 1600 Will Street last week. Neighbors said they could smell animals and feces from Lafferty’s home from their houses.

Detectives removed the dogs and cats from Lafferty’s home and took them to Wayside Waifs. One of the animals had to be euthanized because of untreated medical problems.

Prosecutors charged Lafferty with 16 counts of animal cruelty and one charge each of unlawfully owning too many pets, unlawfully permitting animal waste matter to collect and creating a public nuisance.

Investigators said Lafferty has advertised herself as a license animal rescuer, but her entity has been tied to animal sales at several large chain businesses.

Anyone with information about Lafferty or Black Dog Rescue is asked to call Detective Penny Cole of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at 816-524-4302.

Read more: http://www.kmbc.com/news/30663043/detail.html#ixzz1p21VWjkV

LOS ANGELES — McDonald’s apologized and pulled an ad that came back to bite them.

The ad that said eating a Chicken McBite was less risky than petting a pit bull enraged pit bull owners and their defenders.

McDonald’s spokeswoman Ashlee Yingling said Monday the Kansas City-area radio ad for Chicken McBites ran just a few days before it was pulled Friday.

The company issued an apology by email and social media sites and people who called a toll free number got a recorded apology.

Rachele Lizarraga of Sacramento says she found it reckless so she started a Facebook site and an online petition.

Some critics said McDonald’s should also donate to pit bull causes or use a pit in an ad.

No word from McDonald’s on those ideas.

Seven dogs were found dead, six of them pit bulls, over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Three of those pit bulls were fatally shot, while the other four dogs suffered blunt trauma to the head.

Read the article here